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The ocean is home to a variety of marine life — and many of them are beautiful, mysterious, and just plain bizarre. Sometimes, we get a rare glimpse of them when when they (sadly) wash up on beaches as a result of severe storms or strong currents.

In 2018, beachgoers around the world have spotted several sea creatures that left them (and social media) scratching their heads in puzzlement. From shaggy-haired globsters to a “Loch Ness-type” sea monster, these are just some of the strangest creatures that washed ashore.

The Hairy Globster

In May, the residents of a town in Oriental Mindoro in the Philippines flocked to the beach to see a grayish white blob, covered in hair, washed ashore. The carcass of the mysterious animal measured nearly 20 feet long, and weighed more than 4,000 pounds. Experts said that the globster (a term used to refer to blob-like creatures without obvious eyes and bones, or a visibly distinct head) was most likely a whale.

Why did the dead whale look so strange? “Gas buildup inside the body cavity causes bloating and distortion,” Nicholas Higgs, deputy director of the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth, told Newsweek. “Various parts drop off or are scavenged by sharks as it floats around.” Higgs also said strands of “hair” on the carcass are really just the remains of muscles and blubber.

Vibrant, Blue Jellyfish-Like Creatures

In Barcelona, beachgoers were mystified when thousands of jellyfish-like creatures left a carpet of vibrant blue slime along the shorelines. The creatures were later identified as Velella velella, a bluish, carnivorous animal related to jellyfish, according to the Local. They are free-floating hydrozoan that live on the surface of the open ocean.

Although creepy-looking, they are primarily harmless. Each person may respond differently to contact with their nematocyst toxin, however, so experts advise avoiding touching the face or eyes after handling Velella velella, as itching may develop in parts of the skin that have been exposed.

Alien-Like Sea Creature with Spiky Skin

Photo Credit: Hanna Mary/Facebook

In November, Christchurch, New Zealand resident Hanna Mary posted photos on Facebook, asking for help identifying an alien-like sea creature that washed up on the shores of a beach in Canterbury.

Photos of the strange creature show a skeleton with claws on its wings, two long claspers, a long tail, a long head and sharp fangs in its mouth.

Photo Credit: Hanna Mary/Facebook

Experts later identified the creature as a male Dipturus nasutus, also known as a New Zealand rough skate.

“They are called rough skate because they are very prickly … it’s quite common in Canterbury,” Malcolm Francis, a fisheries scientist and marine ecologist at National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), told the New Zealand Herald. “It’s like flat shark, it has a skeleton made out of cartilage. They spend much of their time on the bottom.”

Giant, “Contracting” Blob

Also in New Zealand, a family got the spook of their lives when they came upon a large, “contracting” creature on Pakiri Beach, roughly 55 miles north of Auckland, New Zealand in September.

“My initial thought was don’t let my kids touch it as they went running up to have a look,” Adam Dickinson, told Fox News. Dickinson’s children compared the pink-ish creature to a “volcano.”

The creature they discovered was still alive — and it was a lion’s mane jellyfish, the largest species of jellyfish in the world.

With tentacles up to 190 feet long and a bell diameter of almost 7 feet wide, a lion’s mane jellyfish can sometimes rival in size the blue whale, according to Oceana. “Its ‘mane’ of long, hair-like tentacles hanging from the underside of its bell-shaped body is the inspiration behind the lion mane’s common name. The mouth is situated on the bell’s underside, surrounded by tentacles that are divided into eight clusters of up to 150 tentacles each,” said the organization.

Big-Eyed, Crawling Fish

A thick-tail batfish washed up ashore on Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi, Tex. in June. (Photo Credit: Padre Island National Seashore/Facebook)

A photographer was scanning the beach for hidden treasures at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas in June, when he spotted a bizarre-looking fish that baffled most people. He sent photos to the national park, which identified the creature as a thick-tail batfish, a species that live 600 to 1,200 feet (180 to 365 meters) deep in the ocean.

According to Padre Island National Seashore, batfish use their pectoral, or side-fins, as “legs” to “crawl” on the seafloor to feed on worms, and small crustaceans and fish. They live their lives in complete darkness, where large eyes probably come in handy to avoid lanternfish or other possible predators.

“Crocodile-Like” Creature

The discovery of the carcass of a “crocodile-like” creature Swansea, Wales sparked quite a debate back in May.

Beth Jannetta was walking her dogs in Rhossili Beach when she came across the decomposed creature, with a long tail and a large head, which she estimated to be around three feet in length. She posted photos on Facebook, which then caused a “big discussion.”

Dan Forman, of the Swansea Ecology Research Team at Swansea University’s Department of Biosciences, said the creature’s jawline suggests it is like a cetacean whale or a dolphin. “We get a reasonable amount of whales and dolphins, a lot which are dead and decomposed in places like Pendine and Rhossili,” he told Wales Online.

“When you look at it the first time you may think it is a crocodile, but it is certainly not,” he said. “There is a big bulge on the base of the skull which is characteristic of a cetacean.”

Mark Hipkin, the National Trust area ranger who collected the creature from the beach confirmed it was a porpoise.

“Loch Ness Monster-Type” Sea Creature or Hoax in Georgia?

This was one mystery that baffled even marine scientists. In March, local media reported that the decomposing remains of what appeared to be a strange creature were found on a beach at the Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia.

Scientists, however, were divided on what the mysterious creature could be. Their interpretations based on images shared range from the creature likely being some type of decomposing fish to an outright hoax, according to National Geographic.

“It looks like a deep-sea shark, like a frilled shark. Although I don’t see gill slits,” Chantal Audra of the Tybee Island Marine Science Center told the Savannah Morning News.

Marine biologist Quinton White from Jacksonville University told National Geographic that the images could be easily faked. He sad he and his colleagues have never seen anything like it. “There aren’t really signs of decomposition, and it looks remarkably intact.”